Instructor Tommy Coleman improvises a rocket launch with a plastic bottle as he and his students in grades 6 and 7 discuss the technical and logistical challenges of a mission to Earth’s sun. Photo courtesy of Compton Unified School District COMPTON—Roosevelt Middle School transformed into a space exploration think tank run by over 60 teachers and students the week of July 16. “The Earth We Share - Space Race Camp” was sponsored by the Dorothy Jemison Foundation for Excellence, the Compton Unified School District, the Los Angeles Unified School District and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s “Summer of Innovation” nationwide program.

Former NASA astronaut, educator and Dorothy Jemison Foundation founder Mae Jemison, M.D., created the weeklong program to promote science education among underrepresented groups including girls and minorities.

Students were exposed to aeronautical content through critical thinking and problem solving challenges. Throughout the week they worked in groups to develop solutions to space exploration topics, which they presented during a field trip to the Watts Labor Community Action Committee Center on the final day of the program.